A dad can’t find a bakery to make a birthday cake that can accommodate his daughter’s allergy-related needs. Two freelancers realize they need a way to organize all of their client contracts and can’t find software that adequately handles their use case. Necessity is often hailed as the mother of innovation – but not all ideas come from necessity. Unfortunately, in our experience, often media coverage of the ideas that powered amazing businesses and projects often stops at a very superficial level. The founders noticed a need and boom – idea. Often the ideation process has a much longer, more complex story and so we’ve asked some entrepreneurs and creatives we admire to go into detail about their ideation stories.

Cathy Graham

I have always had very sensitive skin – couldn’t use scented soaps or laundry detergent. Having to rely on others for non-scented, all natural, color free soap was a challenge. Whenever I would find a crafter who made soaps that I could use without a reaction (mainly through Etsy) they would disappear and then I would have to start the search again, I knew that the process couldn’t be that difficult since so many people were making soap to sell. After a lot of research, I realized that this was something I could do, and felt like this was something others needed also, so I started making my own all natural, unscented soap. Read more>>

Brooklyn Dicent

Absolutely! Picture this; I’d been lighting up stages with my stand-up comedy for a while, but everything shifted after one transformative improv class. It awakened a deeper purpose in me – to wield humor as a tool to alleviate stress and help people navigate life’s challenges. Flash forward to a 2016 performance in front of a packed house. That evening, instead of sticking to my script, I dove into uncharted territory – what we call ‘crowd work’. I began engaging directly with the audience, turning their responses into spontaneous comedy. The energy was electric! Read more>>

Judy Wong

I got my first taste of sustainability when I studied Fashion Design in college. I took a course that was just about sustainability in the fashion industry, and I’ve developed a huge interest in it since. Sustainability back in college days was not big on social sustainability, which I eventually experienced through my professional career in apparel production. I witnessed a common theme in both overseas & domestic factories: waste and pollution as a byproduct of fabric & garment production, garment workers’ poor working and living conditions, and wage disparities. I felt a responsibility to make a change but did not know where to start. I let this fire sit dormant in me for 13 years. Read more>>

Tarianna Velasquez

For as long as I can remember, my family has always talked about opening a restaurant, or having a family business. We were always a tight nit family with big goals, little funds and little knowledge on how to go about getting started. I never had a desire to bake, I’m more of a savory cooking type of person. In 2020 at the height of covid I asked my kids, (who were born 2 years apart, both having birthdays within a week of each other in September) what kind of birthday they wanted to have. Their agreement landed on a glow in the dark party. Read more>>

Alyssa Blackwell

Growing up, I had a pretty intense case of ADHD, but I wasn’t diagnosed until my early 20’s. I’ve heard ADHD (Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) compared to thinking you’re a weird horse trying to fit in with all the other horses, when in actuality, you’re a zebra. For most of my life, I thought I was the weird horse, and that created a lot of shame, in addition to the common difficulties that ADHDers face – hyperactivity, lack of focus, forgetfulness, low dopamine, disorganization… the list goes on. Read more>>

Regina Noriega

The story behind KONECTU begins with my deep dive into the world of Web3, which started in 2017. Throughout my corporate marketing career in the C suite I always found time to do fractional consulting. I couldn’t help but notice a few key things. First, the barrier to entry into the Web3 space was undeniably high. Secondly, I observed that there were significantly more men than women in this domain. And thirdly, despite the wealth of resources available, there wasn’t a single platform that combined everything I was looking for. Read more>>

Terrell Grier

It all started five years ago when I lost my wife of 13 years in my 4 month old unborn baby. I found them both deceased at that time in my home due to the fact, my wife caught sepsis in the hospital in with her having a rare blood type the medication they gave her didn’t help as much. Now prior to this two weeks before that actually happened. Me and my wife lost full custody of our three children due to poor decision on both are parts, so within two weeks my whole life was turned upside down. I went to a deep, dark place for four years where I was totally lost, confused, broken and miss guided. I was at a point in my life to where I didn’t care if I lived or if I died, I went through depression, anxiety, loneliness, feeling abandoned, and feeling miss treated by a unjust system. Read more>>

Rosie Ortiz

Wonder in your Woman was born from a costume contest I participated in. I was determined to win by dressing up as my alter ego; Wonder Woman. I carefully pieced every single aspect of this costume together and was sparing nothing. It had to be perfect not just so I could win but because in a sense, it represented this whole other part of who I wanted to see myself as. The piece that took me the longest to find was the boots. I finally came upon the perfect ones and the moment I tried them on I knew these were the winners. Apparently everyone else thought so too as I won the costume contest that day! Read more>>

Tina Branch

The idea for my business, Project Motherhood Iowa, came out of necessity. By April 2022, I had suffered three back-to-back miscarriages. My first miscarriage in February 2021 shocked me. Miscarriage is one of those things that you don’t think of happening to you until it does. It was an early loss, and I had my family and close friends to comfort me. Although it hurt, I kept being told that “it wasn’t even a baby yet” or “you can just try again, it’s no big deal”… so I felt I had to move on quickly and get over it. My husband and I got pregnant again a few months later, but by August 2021 we had lost our daughter right before 12 weeks. Read more>>

Jonathan Mbu

The inspiration behind the creation of The Rainforester is simple, its founders – me and my father – are, and always have been, truly passionate (verging on obsessed!) with the planet’s wild places. Growing up, we both spent our years in the UK for our education, whilst living in Lagos. As great as this was, what we looked forward to the most were the trips to the rural parts of Nigeria, to the villages of the rainforest. Sadly, it slowly became apparent just how much the rainforests were changing in both of our lifetimes, not only through deforestation, but the people’s attitudes as well. Read more>>

Shyrone Cyph360 Smith

The idea of starting my publishing company came to me when I was getting ready to release my second book. After writing my first book I searched to get published and within 3 months of finishing I found a publishing house. I seen how they handled my project, and also seen how they charged me for every service and felt like the publishing company was getting over. The money splits wasn’t in my favor and I didn’t have much control on how my project was marketed or sold. When I was finished my second book I was questioning if I wanted to go that route again and I reached out to one of my favorite authors at the time, AL Sadiqq Banks, and he asked me was I after the money or did I want longevity. Read more>>

Shaneé DeWitt

Faustina Fashion LLC: I’ve sewn for many years, after having children one of my eldest daughter (at 6 years old), began to show interest in not only sewing, but designing as well. I began working with her and (mainly self taught), she would create clothes for her barbie dolls from latex balloons. Once proficient, we then elevated to hand sewing,; she’d make outfits from old socks for her barbie dolls. By the time she was 10, she expressed to me that when she grew up she wanted to be a fashion designer. I began working with her on drawing sketches of designs and I purchased her a sewing machine for Christmas. Read more>>

Ben Ezugha

Just over 10 years ago, I ended a five-year stint as a wide receiver’s coach for Valhalla High School. It was a very formative chapter of my life being able to marry my passion for the game with my inherent desire to be a mentor for kids. I ended up leaving California to be with my now wife in my hometown of Oklahoma City where we live with our three children. I always knew I wanted to get back into coaching, but I wasn’t in a hurry. I had a strong desire to wait until the time was right and our kids were old enough to participate. Read more>>

Samantha Ann Marquez

As a musician myself, (15 years in Music Industry) I figured out how to promote my content and keep my material relevant. I established connections from all throughout the industry. Linkedin has been a huge help in establishing these connections. Since I figured it out myself, I wanted to be able to offer struggling musicians the same service that I pulled together. I have a desire to help musicians who want to make it. My network is extensive. I’m also a Music Journalist so that comes in handy when trying to promote. I can trade my services for their services and we can make something happen. I love helping artists. Read more>>

Stephanie Christou

The spark for Bottom of the Bin Secondhand Art and Craft Supplies came from my own crafting chaos at home. I’ve always been this enthusiastic hobby hopper, diving into every craft that caught my eye. Over time, this meant amassing a mountain of crafting supplies — I wanted every color and pattern, and if there was a tool for it, I needed it! Soon, my craft space at home became overwhelming, and I had just adopted two kittens that would attack every new project I started. I knew it was time to look for studio space. When I realized how expensive studio space could be, I decided to upgrade a bit and pair it with a storefront instead. Years back, I owned a secondhand clothing store where people traded unwanted clothes for store credit. Read more>>